Any data “relating to health issues, reproductive outcomes, causes of mortality, and quality of life” for an individual or population is considered public health data. Clinical indicators, as well as environmental, socioeconomic, and behavioural information relevant to health and wellness, are included in health data.

What is meant by Health data architecture?

• The national patient data repository will provide hospitals, healthcare institutions, and clinicians with access to specific treatment methods.
• Provide patient data from around the country as a model for understanding and providing better healthcare.
• Reduce paperwork and documentation while moving patients from one doctor/hospital to another, saving valuable time.
• Access to a patient’s medical history might help you comprehend changes in their symptoms and changes.
• By having access to a patient’s medical history, you can avoid medical blunders and inaccurate diagnoses.
• Understanding illness patterns and trends with access to grass-roots data
• assisting in the development of better healthcare policies and initiatives
• Making more effective planning for medical crises as in covid19

The need for it

• Aside from the NFHS, the Health Ministry also conducts the National NCD Monitoring Survey (NNMS), the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS), and other surveys.
• Irregularity and ambiguity in other surveys: The NFHS is India’s only major survey that has a track record of being conducted on a regular basis. It is unknown whether or not the other polls will be repeated.
• The issue of varying estimates is also raised by many studies, which is likely owing to sample variations in the surveys. For example, the NFHS and the Sample Registration System both recorded a large disparity in sex ratio at birth (SRS).
• Surveys conducted for research purposes should not be confused with those conducted for programme monitoring and surveillance purposes.
• Alignment of multiple surveys is difficult: Previous attempts to align these polls have failed because different proponents have different “demands” and argue for inclusion of their set of questions.
• Data Security and Privacy: One of the most serious issues has been the security of patient data and the privacy of patients. Concerns were heightened lately when an Assam minister and a senior National Health Authority official released patient information on Twitter.
• Overinclusion, such as the inclusion of HIV, noncommunicable illnesses, or NCDs items in NFHS, has resulted in unusually large NFHS surveys. This has an impact on data quality. In NFHS-4, for example, the women’s questionnaire was 93 pages lengthy.
• Big Data in health care has its own set of characteristics, including heterogeneity, incompleteness, timeliness and duration, privacy, and ownership. These capabilities introduce a slew of new hurdles for data storage, processing, and sharing in order to further health-related research.

Way forward

• Need to reduce reliance on NFHS: There is a need to create a set of national-level indicators and surveys that will be conducted at regular intervals utilising national government monies.
• For a more in-depth knowledge of particular topics, each round of surveying might concentrate on a specific topic of interest. Other critical public health problems can be addressed by particular studies undertaken by academic institutions on a research mode dependent on funding availability.
• It is also critical to guarantee that the data generated by these surveys is available to the public. So that it may be analysed from several perspectives.
• States should invest in targeted State-level surveys.
• It is necessary to guarantee that data is collected in an organised and consistent way, with enough budgetary allocation.
• There should be a clear aim for conducting a survey, and their needs should be reassessed.

Data is vital in public health care, and data may be utilised in a variety of ways and for a variety of critical goals. Data is essential for demonstrating and evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention, tracking progress toward a goal, identifying obstacles to treatment, and influencing public policy.

How to structure:

1. Give an intro about Public Health Data Architecture
2. Mention the challenges faced and suggest measures
3. Conclude

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/needed-a-public-health-data-architecture-for-india/article38023675.ece